Department for Education

Universities: Admissions

Emma Hardy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department holds data on the number of university students who have deferred their studies since the beginning of the 2020-21 academic year.

Michelle Donelan: The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) have published data on the number of deferrals during the 2020 applications cycle.The latest data, as at 10 September 2020, can be found on UCAS’s website at: https://www.ucas.com/data-and-analysis/undergraduate-statistics-and-reports/statistical-releases-daily-clearing-analysis-2020.This shows that, at this point, 25,520 of all UK applicants placed at UK higher education providers had deferred their place, which equates to 5.8% of all placed applicants. This is a 0.1 percentage point increase on the previous year; at the same point in the previous applications cycle (2019), 5.7% of all placed UK applicants had deferred their place.Applicant data by deferral status for all domiciles can be found at the link provided.Final figures from UCAS will be published at the end of the year.

Overseas Students: EU Nationals

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether EU citizens with (a) pre-settled and (b) settled status will be eligible for home fee status, undergraduate, postgraduate and advanced learner financial support from Student Finance England for courses starting in the academic year 2021-22.

Michelle Donelan: EU nationals with settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, and who meet the relevant eligibility requirements in force at the time of course commencement, will have access to home fee status and student financial support.We have agreed with the EU that current EU principles of equal treatment will continue to apply for those covered by the citizens’ rights provisions in the Withdrawal Agreement. This means that EU nationals resident in the UK before the end of the transition period on 31 December 2020 will be eligible for support on a similar basis to domestic students. They have until 30 June 2021 to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme.EU nationals (and their family members) living in the UK before the end of the transition period who are migrant or frontier workers, or who are self-employed, as well as those who have the right of permanent residence (settled status), will also be eligible for maintenance support, subject to meeting the usual residence requirements.

Primary education: Coronavirus

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will extend the same examination extension announced for secondary schools and colleges in response to the covid-19 outbreak to primary schools administering SATs and other statutory assessments.

Nick Gibb: National Curriculum assessments are an essential part of ensuring that all pupils have the basics of reading, writing and mathematics to prepare them for secondary school. They allow parents and schools to understand pupils’ achievements in relation to the age related attainment expectations outlined in the National Curriculum.The Department recognises that pupils have missed a critical period of their education due to school closures in the 2019/20 academic year. We are planning on the basis that primary assessments will take place in 2020/21 to allow us to understand the remaining impact of COVID-19 and target ongoing support to those that need it most.Timings for SATs in 2021 will be confirmed shortly.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Private Education

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much funding (a) the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and (b) the Department for International Development allocated for the Continuity of Education Allowance to fund school places (i) overseas and (ii) in the UK in 2019-20; and how many school places that funding supported in total.

Nigel Adams: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office allocated £14,065,819 to fund school places in the UK under Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA) in financial year 2019/2020 and allocated £19,993,202,91 in financial year 2019/2020 to fund school places overseas. The information on the number of school places funded is not held centrally. There were 538 children in CEA in financial year 2019/2020.The Department for International Development did not offer Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA) to staff although in some circumstances education is funded for children in the UK and abroad. Information on the number of school places funded is not held centrally.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Wildlife: Trade

Tracey Crouch: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if the Government will take steps to (a) help tackle the causes of the covid-19 pandemic, (b) advocate for a global inter country trade ban of wildlife and wildlife products at the G20 meeting in November 2020 and (c) ban the import and export of wild animals and wild animal products coming into the UK.

Victoria Prentis: We are clear that poorly managed and illegal wildlife trade (IWT) poses threats to animal health and welfare, diminishes our biodiversity, undermines governance, and can result in serious public health issues. However, well managed, sustainable trade can contribute to biodiversity conservation and livelihoods, and can help meet the nutritional needs of local and rural communities in developing nations. The UK Government is fully committed to tackling the environmental drivers of pandemics, including by reversing global biodiversity loss, tackling both unsustainable and illegal wildlife trade, and pressing for significantly higher standards in live animal markets around the world. We are actively considering the many complex issues around the global trade in wildlife, including its relationship to Covid-19 and will support swift policy interventions where these are shown to be effective in mitigating future risk of zoonotic diseases.

Offshore Fixed Structures: North Sea

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions officials in his Department held with their counterparts in the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on the decision not to comply with the London Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter 1972 and the 1996 London Protocol to that Convention in relation to the (a) steel jackets and (b) concrete bases remaining in-situ underneath decommissioned Brent oilfield platforms (i) Bravo, (ii) Charlie and (iii) Delta east of Shetland.

Rebecca Pow: The Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning (OPRED), part of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), consults with a number of other Government departments and agencies including Defra regarding proposals for decommissioning offshore platforms.Defra officials have had extensive discussions with OPRED and have examined the decommissioning proposals for the platforms in the Brent field, and were content that the decommissioning proposals offered the best, most practicable option for protecting the marine environment.In these discussions with OPRED, Defra officials have been assured that any approval to leave in situ the footings of the Brent Alpha steel jacket and the concrete gravity based installations for Brent Bravo, Brent Charlie and Brent Delta will be consistent with our international obligations.